A car bomb exploded in Derry city tonight in a commercial riverside
district near the junction of the Strand Road and Culmore Road.

There were no casualties, but substantial damage was caused to the Da
Vinci’s hotel, a branch of Ulster Bank and a retail centre.

It is understood a warning was received an hour before the bomb exploded
and the area had been cordoned off.

There has been no claim of responsibility so far, although a breakaway
IRA group is understood to have carried out the attack,.

The bombing comes during the annual conference in Birmingham of
Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, their first while in power for 14
years.

Sinn Fein’s Derry-based Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is
controversially scheduled to speak at a fringe event at the conference
later today [Tuesday], the first time a member of the Sinn Fein
leadership has attended a Tory conference.

The North’s First Minister Peter Robinson, the SDLP leader Margaret
Ritchie and former Unionist Party Leader Reg Empey are also scheduled to
attend.